The Seven Wonders of Wales rhyme remembers Gresford for its church bells. It could have picked the yew. The Ancient Yew Group says the Gresford Yew is certainly older than the 13th-century fabric of All Saints', and it measured the trunk at 8.99 metres round in 1999. It does not stand alone. The churchyard holds 33 younger yews, and the church lists them among its remarkable features. Wikipedia's account of the church says this one was already an ancient tree when Richard II ordered yews planted for longbows, which would make it old in the 14th century. Everything else about its age is guesswork, and we would rather say so. No one has published a measured age, and the round numbers you may hear are not ones we can trace. Ancient is the honest word, and the 13th-century church is the firmest clue. It was already an old tree when the Gresford colliery disaster of 1934 killed 266 men underground. The churchyard is open. Find the biggest of the yews; at nearly nine metres round, it is not hard.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
All Saints' churchyard, Church Street, Gresford, Wrexham LL12 8RG
You can recognise it by its size, nearly nine metres round, far bigger than any of the 33 younger yews around it. It stands in All Saints' churchyard, Gresford.
Buses between Wrexham and Chester stop in Gresford, a short walk from the church; check the operator's timetable. Gresford no longer has a railway station.
In fruit
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.
- In the official register: Ancient Yew Group database, Gresford (Tim Hills, 1999)
- ancient-yew.org
- en.wikipedia.org